From state tournament to national champ

Leah Shaw helped send her Princeton High School volleyball team down to state and a fourth-place finish in 2008. A year later, she took part in a national championship run.

The freshman from Princeton played a prominent role for Illinois Central College’s first national volleyball championship at Wisconsin Dells Nov. 21, where the Cougars went five sets to defeat Cowley, Kan. The ICC middle hitter was named to the all-tournament team, delivering the game-ending kill in the second set as the Cougars went up 2-0.

“It was kind of crazy. (It’s been) a lot in one year,” said Shaw, who was home for Thanksgiving. “It felt awesome. I was really happy to be a part of coach Sinclair’s first national championship. She’s such a great coach and deserves it.”

Sinclair has been at ICC for 20 years. ICC placed fourth at nationals last year and had a cast of returning players, including All-American Yiting Cao of Shanghai, China. They were top seed coming into nationals.

Shaw was honored, but surprised being named all-tournament.

“At times, I played well, I wasn’t as consistent as I would like. Still, it’s a great honor,” she said.

So after a state tournament finish and a national championship, what does Shaw have in store for an encore next year?

“I’m not quite sure. Hopefully a repeat,” she said.

Football

Bureau Valley and Harper College fans know all about Garrett Barnas’ offensive explosive talents. Northern Illinois got a glimpse Saturday at Ohio University.

The junior back-up safety saw time on offense in the Huskies’ 38-31 loss at Ohio Saturday. The former Storm all-state quarterback had the first carry on a speed sweep and finished with three rushing yards, an incomplete pass and served as a decoy on other runs.

“The first play, I’m not going to lie, I was pretty nervous carrying the ball,” Barnas said. “But it was fine after I got the hang of it.”

With some injuries on offense, NIU offensive coordinator Matt Limegrover said Barnas was good to help stretch the field both vertically and horizontally

“He’s a phenomenal athlete,” Limegrover said. “By all accounts, he should be the starting quarterback at Syracuse right now. He had a scholarship offer that they pulled and we were lucky enough that he wanted to stay close enough to home. In junior college he could really run. He could run around and make plays.”